Comments

Officially, you should get an appointment first, but if you get there early and explain that you had difficulties getting through on the phone, and you are not familiar with London, they will see you without an appointment ....but be prepared to wait until after 10am if you get there at 8-45 . Parking is a problem go by London transport, as you will not know how long you will be there . Take a Shengan visa application form ( you can down load these from other web sites under visa application dowload or visit other Consulate web sites to get it.

You will NOT get one from the portuguese web site so dont waste your time looking . You cannot get a visa unless you attend in person . You can of course pop in and get one from reception . Dont ask them to post or write it takes weeks for them to respond. Just pop in if you want one quickly. Also ask for a list of all required documents , and that will help you check off all the itemes required.

The address is 3 Portland place ( very near Harley Street and the back of John Lewis shop) get in the area and anyone will tell you from there its 2 minutes from there walking .

You will need prove of who you are two photographs, where you are staying, (in portugal ) way of entry, travel documents (flights) dates when travelling health insurance, etc etc in fact take everything you can and photocopy it as they will keep the copies with your application. Take sterling to pay for the visa and it will take about a week to get it . You can get it posted to you if you offer them a recorded or registered pre-paid envelope with your London address on it from the post office, otherwise you will be asked to collect .

You need to go to the Portuguese Embassy in Knighstbrigde, and you don't need an appoitment as it works like this who ever comes first gets served.

You need to get there for at least 7/8am and by this time you need to join the massive queue.

That Embassy is a nightmare, there is no organisational skills whatsoever. For example I took the day off in order to go to the embassy and change my maiden name to my married name. After queuing for such a long time and spending £28 on the train, they told me to go home and comeback another day because there was too many people to serve.

They think that people like us have all the time in the world, they don't know the meaning of the word pressure.

I would like to see how would these people be able to handle really, really stressful jobs of where they had deadlines to meet.

Couldn't agree more! That place in Knightsbridge is a nightmare, avoid at all costs! The queues start forming as early as 5AM, if you are arrive after 8AM you have no chance of being seen!

I think its both a consulate and an embassy, either way they never answer phones. A chap i know actually went to the Portuguese consulate in Manchester when he had business there. No queues but still the same unhelpful staff! Oh well..........

I'm sure the staff are Spanish and do the job for fun to annoy all Portuguese people. They don't care which part of the UK you have travelled from and will very happily say come back tomorrow. There are often annoyed people that start almost a riot. Me being one of them as they are so unhelpful, at the end of the day I went back 3 days in a row after queuing outside at 6am everyday and they said come back tomorrow.

In the end I thought forget it, it's only a piece of paper, I know who I am and where I'm from. I got a British one instead much easier and with no problems.

It's a shame that those people don't have a sence of national pride. I understand they work hard and are not paid well. If thats the case look for another job that you will do better in.

The consulate that has been open for years in Knightsbridge, opposite Harrods, number 62 silver street closed during the summer and re-located to 3 Portland place. There is a piece of A4 paper with the address on. The web site hasn't been updated and I only found out by walking past on a trip to London.

If you look at Portuguese embassy's around the world they are very good and have websites with contact info that you get a reply from. I often use the Portuguese embassy in Japan, which is probably the best in the world

They need someone to sort out the one in London, the capital of a country that Portugal has the longest alliance with and has a lot of Portuguese people. Something must be wrong when we have a very good Portuguese embassy in Spain, a country that has not always been a friend of Portugal or its people.

we live in london we are not register in the portuguese consulate we have portuguese ID my daughter hase a passport and it expiers soon I would like to now how long it takes to get it ready and what do I need ?.

As you live in London it will not be as annoying as traveling over 100 miles just to get to London. I suggest you go to the consulate real early, take the old passport with a new birth certificate and some passport sized pictures.

Then take a huge pinch of salt and see if they do it on the same day or make you go back a few times!

I have a query here and hope someone would be able to help. My passport is expiring in a few months time and I will need a new passport issued before I travel on the 1st of April 2005. To my horror, the consulate has moved to a different addess, and I could not get thru to them on the phone!!! I understand that they now operate an appointments only system, but how can I make an appointment when they do not pick up the phone?? Anyway, after reading this message board, it seems to me that for passport renewal, I actually need to go to the EMBASSY but not the CONSULATE, could anyone confirm this to me please? Last time I actually renewed my passport at the consulate at Silver City House in Knightsbridge. I live in Manchester and I know this is going to be a real pain to get it sorted....

> Gilli,> > Couldn't agree more! That place in Knightsbridge is a> nightmare, avoid at all costs! The queues start forming as> early as 5AM, if you are arrive after 8AM you have no chance of> being seen! > > I think its both a consulate and an embassy, either way they> never answer phones. A chap i know actually went to the> Portuguese consulate in Manchester when he had business there.> No queues but still the same unhelpful staff! Oh well..........

> Gilli,> > Couldn't agree more! That place in Knightsbridge is a> nightmare, avoid at all costs! The queues start forming as> early as 5AM, if you are arrive after 8AM you have no chance of> being seen! > > I think its both a consulate and an embassy, either way they> never answer phones. A chap i know actually went to the> Portuguese consulate in Manchester when he had business there.> No queues but still the same unhelpful staff! Oh well..........

> Gilli,> > Couldn't agree more! That place in Knightsbridge is a> nightmare, avoid at all costs! The queues start forming as> early as 5AM, if you are arrive after 8AM you have no chance of> being seen! > > I think its both a consulate and an embassy, either way they> never answer phones. A chap i know actually went to the> Portuguese consulate in Manchester when he had business there.> No queues but still the same unhelpful staff! Oh well..........

It is with some dread that I post this as, having read the various other messages, it reminds me of our previous attempt at getting something sorted with our 'friends' at the consulate - and only the address seems to have changed.

I married a Portuguese national 5 years ago. We wanted to get married in Portugal, but thanks to the 'help' we received we ended up getting married in London. Our experience at the hands of our 'friends' was neatly summed up when, on our 3rd attempt to see someone at the consulate (after a 5am start - and we lived in London) the look of joy that spread across the face of the appallingly rude lady that deigned to grant us an audience as she realised that we lacked a vital document (not on the supplied list) and that therefore she could get rid of us - empty handed - was a sight to see.

Unfortunately I must take the plunge once more as we now live in Portugal and it seems that in order for me to get anything official done, we must effectively re-marry as our UK marrige certificate doesn't cut it here. (I have a great story about a catch 22 situation involving our marriage certificate and the loja de cidadão here in Porto - but that's for another time kids!).

So does anyone know how to get a list of the necessary documents/appointment/who to contact/where to go etc? Any help will be most gratefully received.

To get married in Madeira under the rules and laws there one of the spouses must be an official resident, either on the island or on mainland Portugal. Now, before anyone cries "injustice", the same applies to any other EU nationals that want to marry in other parts of the EU when they are not resident there. For example, as reported in a newspaper in Funchal, if a Portuguese couple resident in Madeira wanted to get married in Germany they would have to go through the same "hell" as that which you faced in the Portuguese embassy in London. The one thing I advise time and time again is for the prospective married couple to seek the advice of an attorney based in the country they wish to get married in. You might be surprised that their advice would save you not only a lot of time and hassle - but also, quite often, a saving in terms of money too. Yes! Lawyer's charge. But your time is what you use to make your money too. What a waste of money standing in queues at the embassies!

I will be honest with you. The Portuguese Consulate is very hard to get through, by phone, letter and in person. It took me three months to eventually get seen by some oen all because they only see the first 50 people that arrive. This sounds ok but at least a hundred turn up everyday and the ques start from outside the door from 06.00 in the morning. I eventually turned up oneday at 05.30 am and was refused to be seen because i did not fall into the first 50 people. After three months trying to get seen and only 2 days left to fly out to Madeira i got angry and shouted. That way i got seen and got a tempt passport.

Long story i know but to be honest you will need to camp outside and take every bit of paper, passport, marriage certificate, birth certificate and what ever else you have on you as they wont supply a passport without them. I have never seen or had so much problems and i am Portuguese myself.

So to be honest, i wish you the best of luck because it is not easy and if you are a Portuguese person who cannot speak speak portuguese well because you have lived away all your life, YOU will be looked upon as a pest and an embarrassment.

To the comments from all the other people about the staff being rude. You are quite right. They are rude and Portugal cant believe that they treat us this way. As far as Portugal is aware we are treated the same way as if we were there on portuguese land. Believe me, the consulate in madeira treated me like a person and not an animal. Amazing what authority does to people.

There used to be one in Manchester but then they have closed that and only kept the one in London open, which is why things are even worse now than before, they have also stopped the post service too. Dont they realise that there are hundreds of thousands if not millions of portuguese people all over the UK?

Dear sir madami have been in london for 2 years i never need to used the consulate services, but now i need to renue my id card and do a passport but i cant find the right location or the phone nr to try to do an appoinment.i woul like to try to sort my thinks out this week.can you please supply that information for mekind regards